, ;6 A USTK. I /- /.v/. / /A A 1 r S /'A'. / TED. 



Thomas Mitchell, then Surveyor-General. The soil here, although of poor quality, 

 pa.tur.-a not Ion- a-., a valuable- herd of pure-bred short-horns, some of which were 

 from the be>t >tnk of Great Britain. To the left of the line is Mount Gilead, upon 

 the apex of which stands as a prominent landmark a large and well-preserved building 

 of a circular form the remains of an old wind-mill. Winding around the foot of the 

 Mount is the wide conduit through which slowly Hows to the metropolis the pure clear 

 water of fresh mountain-streams. 



Pinon. fifty-three miles from Sydney, the next important stopping-place, though lying 

 in the valley of the River, enjoys an elevation of over five hundred feet, which makes 

 it a favourite health-resort. Its reputation as a sanatorium is so considerable that it 

 has been chosen as a favourite locality for a hospital for consumptives, established and 

 endowed by private benevolence. At Picton the railway begins the ascent to the table- 

 land, the gradient on leaving the station being one in thirty-three ; within a distance of 

 six miles there is a rise of over five hundred feet, at which point the engines stay 

 their course to replenish their tanks. This is done from a chain of lagoons known as 

 the Picton Lakes, lying on the right in the broadened bed of a sandstone gully- 

 rough and uninviting country, densely timbered and but little used. A few miles to the 

 east is the darkly-famed Bargo Brush a primitive forest, through which ran the Southern 

 Road, and which, in days of old, gave shelter and concealment to many bold and 

 blood-thirsty bushrangers, whose dark and sanguinary deeds have inscribed the name of 

 Bargo on the crimson calendar of crime, for in outlaw lore it stands even before 

 Eugowra and Glenrowan. 



Fifteen miles of climbing through long, deep, expensive cuttings follows, the engines 

 labouring upward through the narrow sandstone cleft, and within the distance making an 

 ascent qf nine hundred feet. On the hill-top begins the southern line of summer retreats, 

 though the first of importance is Mittagong, which stands at an elevation of over two 

 thousand feet above sea-level. Here the horse-road and railway routes reunite. Mitta- 

 gong long remained a terminus, as a tunnel of nearly six hundred yards in length had 

 to be bored before the railroad could proceed on its journey farther south. Considerable 

 deposits of very fine hematite iron ore, with promising seams of coal near at hand, 

 lie close to the town, and large; sums have been spent in fruitless endeavours to develope 

 these treasures. But the lack of technical knowledge, as has been the case in regard to 

 so many colonial industries, swamped the capital at the outset. The coal was found to 

 be ill-adapted for smelting, and lime had to be brought from a considerable distance ; 

 all this militated against the economical treatment of the ores. The minerals, however, 

 still remain, and may in years to come be profitably worked. Fifteen miles distant, at 

 Joadja Creek, a seam of kerosene-shale, estimated to contain one million and a half tons, 

 is being attacked by two companies, both thriving, and employing large numbers of 

 workmen. A private narrow-gauge railway has been constructed by one of the companies 

 from the station down into the deep gorge where the mineral is worked. 



Berrima, four miles from the trunk line, and situated on the Main Southern Road, 

 is the centre of a district rich in minerals. Here, at an elevation of two thousand 

 three hundred feet above the level of the sea, stands a gaol, conducted on what is 

 known as the "silent system"; prisoners who receive long sentences have to serve at 



